Historically our spending was at much higher level as a percentage of GDP. It has been drastically lowered in prior administration. We should just get it back to where it used to be and spend it more wisely, with more weight on latest technology military improvents

The military facilitates economy. There is a reason why pirates don't exist anymore. It's a good thing the US doesn't tax other countries for the protection it gives. Also China is becoming an increasing threat. So the military spending needs to be increased or not changed, but definitely not decreased.

Actually no, there are not relatively less pirates today than in History. The fact is...and it's a hard pill to swallow, is that we live in a very sheltered world where problems like Piracy just don't seem to exist because they don't affect us directly. It's very unfortunate that people think this way, but we live behind a veil that few ever have the opportunity to see past and most of those who do still only see it from a controlled perspective. The reality is that Piracy is real, it's big, there are more pirates and instances of piracy happening in today's world than ever before and it's steadily rising.

I think most of this misunderstanding comes from the idea that piracy (During the Golden Age of Piracy) was some booming industry that resulted in hundreds or thousands of ships being plundered. In all actuality, most Pirate crews during that time didn't overtake more than 8 ships each year and only the famous and notoriously efficient Pirates took more than that which still only equated to around 12 ships each year. Black Bart (Bartholomew Roberts) was considered to be the most successful Pirate of all time and his record was 400 ship captures from 1719 - 1722. His average was just about 100 ships each year and that was while he commanded 4 ships, one of which was the most heavily armed Pirate ship to ever sail during the Golden Age of Piracy. No other Pirate ever came close to his record so that gives you an idea of how many ships total were overtaken by pirates back then.

1. Taliban, Al-Qaeda, and ISIS are not the same2. These groups were created by the U.S. in invasions and proxy wars. How does this prove your point?

No; the Taliban was created in Afghanistan only after the US ended Afghanistan funding. Al Qaeda's formation had no ties to the US. ISIS was created from elements of al Qaeda by the vacuum created by Obama's withdrawal of US troops. Only ISIS may have been created by the US, and if Obama would have increased US troop strength instead of withdrawing them, they likely wouldn't have grown to be the threat they became; but that argues against decreasing military spending.

US military funding is highly ineffective. Companies bribe the leaders so that new military technology can be developed, but in reality it is just a way for companies to make money from the government. If these companies are out of the picture, then we could possibly make our military stronger even if we decrease our spending.